Thread: Brake heating
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Old 07-20-24 | 02:50 AM
  #111  
mikemelbrooks
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Originally Posted by Duragrouch
There may be some issues with this. The boss/stud for the caliper take load in tension holding the caliper in place, but also bending in the direction of rotor rotation and pads resisting that motion. A stack of washers will not have the same rigidity if there is any sliding between the washers or spacers and the (original) caliper mounting boss/stud. Even if no sliding, it could also move elastically due to the higher load, small enough you won't see it but enough to cause fatigue failure over time. The total shear load on the bolts would be the same, but since spaced further out, would result in greater bending load on the bolts, with maximum moment in the threaded area. Depending on the height of spacers or washers, bending moment could increase by a multiple. Damage might also happen at the female threaded boss/stud, if not designed for the greater lateral bending load. Check, perhaps due some basic calculations on how much the bending moment is increasing for a given lateral force at the pads. This calculation would not be based on the increase in rotor diameter, but increase in caliper bolt attachment length, specifically, the length between the threaded attachment boss and the underside of the bolt head. If that's increasing by 100% (doubling) or more, or even 50%, caution. You are threading into aluminum, which is notoriously sensitive to loading for fatigue life/failure. Longer bolts is not the same loading condition as longer bosses with same length bolts.
Thanks for your reply, and your concern. I did consider the extra load before going ahead with this. As the vast majority of the load is in compression rather than in shear I believed I was good to go. Originally the bike was fitted with bb7 brakes and conical washers. I have fitted hydraulic post mount brakes which no longer need the conical washer so the increase in bolt length is minimal. The maximum braking force is increased but the main reason we I went in rotor size was to have a disc that was more resistant to over heating. The reason we went to hydraulic to reduce the hand effort need to stop us especially on the rear brake as it has such a long cable run. The bonus is much less brake adjustment (none). We have done 4 to 5 thousand miles with the larger disc and I periodically check the brake mount.
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